Facebook is a marketing channel that almost any company would benefit from utilizing. With the largest reach of any social platform, great targeting, and a variety of ad placement possibilities, advertising on the world’s largest social media platform is a no brainer. While many marketers understand that they should be advertising on Facebook, they may find themselves confused by the two different ad options on the site. 

The two ways businesses can advertise on Facebook are by boosting their organic posts or creating custom ads. There are advantages and disadvantages to both options, so marketers should understand each to know which will help them meet their objectives.

Here's a full analysis of both boosting posts and creating ads so you can decide which will best help you to achieve your goals.

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Boosting Posts

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Boosting Posts is the advertising option on Facebook that users are likely most familiar with. This option allows you to “Boost” posts that you’ve already posted on your page. The reason for doing this is because the only people who would organically see your posts are your followers and whoever they share it with. Depending on the size of your following, this may be a large or small audience, but either way, it's likely that there are potentially interested consumers beyond just the users who follow you.

When you boost your posts, you can reach outside of your established network and show your posts to different target audiences. These boosts are the easiest way to advertise on Facebook because it doesn’t require any outside work other than setting your targeting, duration, and budget. If you have very short-term objectives and a limited budget, boosting posts is likely going to be an ideal advertising option for you.

Advantages of Boosting Posts

It’s Quick and Easy:

‍Boosting requires very little setup. You complete everything on one page and can have everything up and running in minutes.

Advertise on a Tiny Budget:

‍You can set the budget as low as $1 per day with only a one-day minimum duration.

Reach Audiences Outside Your Network:

‍Target based on age, gender, and location demographics as well as detailed targeting capabilities that include advanced demographics, interests, and behaviors.

Achieve Short-Term Goals:

‍We recommend boosting posts to share temporary promotions, new store openings, upcoming events, etc.

Disadvantages of Boosting Posts

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Relatively Small Reach:

‍Facebook Ads have deeper targeting capabilities than boosted posts. Additionally, boosted posts won’t continually retarget users as well as Facebook Ads will.

Limited Ad Placement:

‍Boosting requires very little setup. You complete everything on one page and can have everything up and running in minutes.

Expensive at Scale:

‍Compared to Facebook Ads, boosted posts have higher Cost-Per-Click and lower Click-Through-Rates. You can spend less on your advertising with boosting posts, but for worse bang for your buck.

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Facebook Ads

If you want to utilize the full power of Facebook’s marketing, then look no further than Facebook Ads.  Facebook Ads is Meta’s full advertising suite for their social platforms. Using Facebook Ads you can advertise on Facebook, Instagram, and Marketplace in a variety of ad placements including in-feed, side panel ad slots, and even video content displayed in Reels. Through Ad Manager, you can organize full marketing plans with individualized messaging to different target audiences with intricately detailed targeting and advanced reporting.

Facebook Ads can be used in myriad ways to meet almost any marketing objective. If you have a sustained marketing budget with goals to continually promote your brand, have complete control over your creatives and messaging, generate leads, and drive sales, then Facebook Ads are a good fit for you.

Advantages of Facebook Ads

Advanced Targeting:

Utilizing Facebook Ads offers deeper demographic and location targeting options with the ability to serve different ads to different target audiences with messaging that will speak directly to them and their interests.

Ad Placement Variety:

‍Advertise across Meta’s social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Reels, Marketplace) with many different placements for both static and video ads

Marketing Objectives:

‍Put a goal on your campaign (such as Awareness, Traffic, Leads, etc.) which Facebook’s automation software uses to show ads to users likeliest to take your defined actions

Deep Reporting:

‍The Ad Manager shows how your ads have been performing with advanced performance metrics such as Click-Through-Rates, Conversion Rates, and Cost Per Acquisition

Better Cost Scaling:

‍Facebook Ads boast lower Cost-Per-Click and higher Click-Through-Rates than boosted posts

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Disadvantages of FacebookAds

Longer Time Frame:

‍To meet many of your marketing objectives, you’ll need your Facebook Ads to run month-to-month or even continuously. This requires more of a commitment than the short-term ad spend of boosted posts.

More Difficult Setup:

‍To place your Facebook Ads, you’ll need familiarity with Meta’s Ad Manager which can be intimidating to new users. Additionally, you’ll need to provide your own creative properties to display in your ads.

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In Conclusion

There are many reasons why you would run ads through either option. We’d recommend running Facebook Ads if you have the resources because of their superior targeting, placements, and ability to cater to a variety of advertising objectives. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t boost posts also, though. Often marketers see great success from running Facebook Ads for their longer-term goals in conjunction with boosting posts for short term promotions.

If you need help with your Facebook marketing campaigns, 3P Marketing can help. We’re a full-service digital marketing agency that handles your full marketing plan from strategy to ad creation to placement and delivery. We’ll have your ads running in no time.

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